Best and Worst Places to Retire – 2014 Studies

As we have discussed in previous posts, a truly sustainable retirement is critical. Nothing impacts that sustainability more than the geographical location. Fortunately, the financial decision making web site ‘Wallet Hub’ has done some great research on the topic. They have developed a detailed analysis of the 150 largest cities in the United States and have ranked them 1 to 150. The analysis was done across 5 primary parameters:

Affordability

Access to Activities

Quality of Life

Healthcare

Access to Jobs

Unique to the Wallet Hub study is the inclusion of the increasingly critical factor. access to jobs.

To help American retirees find the best places to call home for their Golden Years, WalletHub analyzed the retirement-friendliness of the 150 largest cities in the United States. We examined each city across five key dimensions, namely affordability, jobs, activities, quality of life and health care. All dimensions were weighted equally with the exception of “Jobs,” which received a smaller weight. We then identified 25 metrics that were relevant to those dimensions. They range from cost of living to job prospects for workers aged 65 and older to the availability of recreational activities.

For this study, we assessed the costs that retirees would face under the assumption that many of them will have fixed incomes. The lower their expenses, the better retirees will fare in a particular city. In addition, we chose each city based on the size of its population. Surrounding metro areas were excluded.

Checkout this cool Interactive Map (Hover over your favorite city)

Here are their top 10

Overall Rank

City

Affordability Rank

Jobs Rank

Activities Rank

Quality of Life Rank

Health Care Rank

1

Tampa, FL

9

92

3

19

46

2

Grand Prairie, TX

26

58

70

30

2

3

Orlando, FL

7

98

2

93

30

4

St. Petersburg, FL

9

45

31

48

49

5

Scottsdale, AZ

100

54

14

3

21

6

Overland Park, KS

77

5

91

10

8

7

Port St. Lucie, FL

5

62

56

17

51

8

Cape Coral, FL

54

86

84

4

38

9

Plano, TX

40

54

109

29

1

10

Peoria, AZ

89

67

43

5

10

To find out more detail about their methodology, the bottom 10 and all the rest of this valuable article visit WalletHub

On topic, Irina and I have planned an extended trip to Florida November 2014. We will be touring Orlando, Tampa and St. Petersburg and will be reporting back with our personal research. Incuded in the trip will be 4 days at “The Villages” active adult community near Ocala. Look for several detailed posts with lots of pictures from our upcoming adventure.